Arsenal Links

Wenger to talk with Fiorentina again – The club is in good hands with Gazidis – Hangeland

Afternoon all, theres a fair bit around today: Arseblog’s exclusive Ivan Gazidis interview, The Fiorentina sporting director has spoken about Arsenal/Melo and a host of pre-season training pictures have been released, I will go through the pictures tomorrow.

“Arsenal have made us a proposal for Melo and Wenger wants to speak again with me. I haven’t one preclusion because I could also obtain an interesting part-ownership, so I don’t exclude anything,”

“There is not one club that has offered the amount established in the buyout clause and there aren’t any meetings scheduled.

I think the fact that Juventus have also not offered the full amount speaks volumes, but, you have to be wary that these Italians may just be playing games with us, throwing another hat into the ring to try and get the full price for Melo. I guess all will be revealed at some point but I have made my position on the matter perfectly clear.

Onto Ivan Gazidis’s Arseblog interview, and after first reading, I’m very happy the club’s future is partly in the hands of someone that really knows that they are doing, he fills me with confidence. Here are some of the best bits I thought:

“I think that perspective was useful in approaching the January transfer window with discipline as opposed to abandon.”

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Well I think the club has had a very clear and consistent philosophy since before even Stan Kroenke or Alisher Usmanov came into the picture – which is that the club is bigger than any single owner. The club has always been proud of its independence, not for its own sake but in order to preserve stability.

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So while we were disappointed at the end of the year this is a young team that’s going to improve year by year and with a few additions can be very competitive.

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It’s a long term relationship between club and fan. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the club actually is the fans, so it would be extremely foolish of us to ignore the realities and not to listen to and be aware of the issues that are affecting our fanbase.

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I do believe that Arsenal represents some things that are quite special, particulary in the modern world of football. We need to preserve those whilst articulating them to a wider public.

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fundamentally we believe in the squad that Arsene has been developing. I certainly acknowledge this is a big year for us. And it’s a big year for those players. We talk about potential but at some point potential needs to deliver.

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At the end of the day it’s not enough for Arsenal to be just competing and reaching the top four.

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When he comes under pressure he [Wenger] doesn’t turn around and point fingers at players, he takes all of that on his own shoulders. We’re embarked on a journey that we believe will result in us having a truly world class team, winning trophies over the next five years of Arsenal’s history.

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Gazidis gives me confidence in the future of the club, he seems an optimist but a realist too, he recognises that potential has to deliver and that the club is created by its fans and therefore, the club have to deliver, not just once or twice, but for a long, long time. Now and in the future. To read the entire interview hop over to Arseblog.

Id like to thank Arseblogger for allowing me to use parts of that interview and stress to you that if you wish to use ANY part of the interview, permission must be sought from Arseblogger. If you don’t do that, you are a cunt.

Brede Hangeland has rejected a contract at Fulham, a contract that would double his wages. This could open the door for us to make an effort to sign him but his price may be extortionately high (rumours are 15 mil asking price) and his suitability for our high defensive line can be questioned. He has since said this.

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One Response to “Wenger to talk with Fiorentina again – The club is in good hands with Gazidis – Hangeland”

Regarding Lachter, it’s funny that the ORIGINAL story I saw on his comments were not from an English rag, but rather some obscure link that showed up on NewsNow last night (US time). All the other “reports” of this seem to have been pulled from the original. It should be noted, and apparently has been done so by at least 1 English report (in SKY, I believe), that not only has Lachter been dismissed as Shava’s agent, but also that the public announcement that Shava had dismissed Lachter came from Shava’s own personal website. It wasn’t a media report, Kastrinakis at the Sun didn’t fabricate it (unlike everything else he publishes), and the Daily Fail didn’t quote some unnamed source on this. It came DIRECTLY from Shava.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time on Shava’s website and know that Andrey has a very active role on the site. He personally responds to questions on a regular basis, has his webmaster (I presume) post normal, every day life family fotos often, and really seems to have a hand in how thing roll over there. So if that website releases a statement that Lachter is no longer the Mr 20% for Shava, that IS a direct statement from Shava.

If my recollection serves, I actually think Lachter’s comments are from last summer. Barca were flirting with him, and Shava was flirting back. Who can blame him? I can recall talking with my gang in Moscow and SPB about a proposed move to Barca and I kept telling them “No, you wait. He’ll be wearing an Arsenal shirt at some point.” haha But Lachter was all over the place whispering sweet nothings into the ear of any team who would listen last summer and was shameless in his tarting around for a move to Spain for Shava. But it didn’t happen. And Shava has found a home in North London. And now Lachter is out of a job. Boo fuckin’ hoo.